5 things I wish I'd known before I installed my log burner – that I think you'll want to know too

Our log burner is my favourite thing about winter at home. On a cold, dark evening, nothing beats sitting in front of a real fire, and I don't regret installing it for a second. If anything, I wish I'd done it sooner.

But that first winter taught me a few lessons the hard way, from why the room filled with smoke whenever I opened the door to just how many logs I'd get through in my pursuit of a toasty evening at home.

Here are the five things I wish I’d known before installing my log burning stove, and the expert advice that’s helped me put things right.

1. Opening up a fireplace is a building project in itself

I'd pictured our installer simply sliding the stove into our old fireplace, but in reality, opening it up was a building job in its own right, with plenty of rubble and a surprising amount of dust.

Old fireplaces have often been bricked up, boarded over or filled in over the years, and you won't know what's behind them until you actually start work. You might find a cracked or missing lintel above the opening that needs replacing (ask me how I know) or a recess that has to be enlarged before your chosen stove will fit.

It's also worth checking what's above, too. In many older homes, the chimney breast has been removed in an upstairs room, leaving the stack supported on brackets or steelwork. If that's the case in your house, ask a structural engineer to confirm it was done properly before you put a working stove underneath it.

Finally, budget time and money for making good. Once the stove was in, our chimney breast needed replastering, and the whole room needed redecorating once the dust had settled.

2. There's a knack to lighting and refuelling a stove

I’d assumed lighting a stove would be much like lighting an open fire: a firelighter, some kindling, a few logs and I’d be away. Instead, I ran into all sorts of stove problems, not least a puff of smoke drifting into the room every time I opened the door.

Phil Wood, UK managing director at Contura, explains why this was happening. "A cold chimney can struggle to create the natural draught needed to draw smoke upwards, while insufficient oxygen or damp logs can prevent the fire from reaching an efficient burning temperature."

The fix starts with stocking up on dry rather than wet fuel. Look for seasoned or kiln-dried hardwood below 20% moisture, ideally with the Woodsure 'Ready to Burn' label. Phil recommends lighting the fire from the top down. You put two logs at the bottom, a criss-cross of kindling on top and natural firelighters on the very top, with the air vents fully open. "This helps warm the fire chamber and flue, encouraging a good draught," he says.

My refuelling was all wrong too. Phil's advice is to, "wait until the flames have largely subsided and a good bed of glowing embers remains", then "open the stove door slowly to allow the pressure to equalise." I also used to clear out every scrap of ash, but leaving 2–3cm in the base helps the stove hold its heat.

Phil Wood

Phil is managing director of Contura Stoves (UK) Limited. He has worked in the fireplaces, fires and stoves industry since 1985.

3. You'll get through far more wood than you think

Something else I didn't expect when installing my log burner was how quickly our log pile would shrink over winter. According to Jon Butterworth, Director at Arada, part of the shock is simply because wood is a fuel you can see.

"With gas central heating, most of us don't think about every kilowatt of gas we're using," he says. "With a wood burner, you can physically see the logs going onto the fire and, if you're buying your wood, you know exactly what each load has cost you."

How much you use depends on the stove's output, how long you run it and the size and insulation of the room. "A larger, higher-output stove will naturally require more fuel," says Jon, which is why getting the size right matters. Damp wood wastes fuel too, because "energy is wasted driving that moisture off rather than producing useful heat."

All that wood needs somewhere to live, and log storage was another thing I underestimated. "Buying logs in bulk is usually more cost-effective and convenient, so it's worth thinking about where you'll store them before your stove is installed," says Phil Wood. If I did it again, I'd build a log store bigger than I thought I needed, out of the prevailing wind, and close to the house on a lit, hard path. Trudging across a muddy lawn in the dark with an armful of logs gets old fast.

And a final thing nobody warned me about was the wildlife. The first time I brought a big batch of logs indoors, I spent the next few days finding confused beetles and spiders around the house. Logs that have been stored outside are home to all sorts of insects, and the warmth of your living room soon wakes them up. Now, I give each log a quick tap and knock off any loose bark outside before it comes in. I only bring in a day or two's worth at a time, and keep it in a log basket. That way the logs have time to warm up and lose any surface damp before they go on the fire, without turning the house into a bug hotel.

Jon Butterworth

Jon Butterworth is Managing Director of Arada Stoves, one of the UK's leading suppliers of log-burning stoves and has a wealth of experience in supplying and installing them.

4. It won't heat the whole house on its own

I had visions of the stove keeping the whole house cosy; in reality, it makes one room toasty, and because you refuel in cycles, letting the fire burn down before adding more, the temperature can swing between too hot and slightly chilly.

"A single wood-burning stove isn't generally designed to replace whole-house central heating," says Jon. "It's at its most effective heating the room it's installed in and potentially adjoining spaces, so many homeowners choose to use it alongside their existing heating system."

There's a catch I didn't see coming, though. If your central heating thermostat is in the same room as the stove, it thinks the whole house is warm and switches the boiler off, leaving bedrooms and hallways cold. It's worth moving the thermostat, or fitting a smart heating system so other rooms keep heating independently. A stove fan on top of the stove can also help push warm air further into the room.

5. You'll want to book your sweep and service before the first cold snap

I knew the chimney needed sweeping every year. What I didn't realise was that everyone else remembers at the same time, so the first chilly week of autumn, and I ended up at the bottom of a long waiting list.

"Our advice will always be to get ahead of the rush and make sure any necessary preparation is carried out before the colder months arrive," says Adam Leah, founder and director at Direct Stoves.

You can handle simple jobs yourself, such as cleaning the glass, but Adam recommends a professional check too. "A trained professional can identify any potential issues that may not be immediately obvious and advise on any repairs or replacements," he says. These days I book my sweep and service in late summer, as part of my log burner maintenance, so there's time to fix any problems before I need the stove most.

Little things nobody tells you about owning a log burner

Beyond the big lessons, there were plenty of smaller things I only found out once the stove was installed.

• It doesn’t have to be a black box
  When I was shopping for my stove, I assumed it would be black, because that’s just what stoves looked like. “One of the things people are often surprised by is just how much choice there is now in terms of colours,” says Jon Butterworth. “Homeowners are choosing their stove as part of their overall interior scheme rather than simply as a heating appliance.” If space is tight, it’s worth looking at models with storage built in too. “Integrated log storage can be a practical and attractive solution, keeping your logs close to hand while complementing the overall look of your stove,” says Phil Wood.
• You’ll need more kit than you think
  I quickly realised I needed fireplace accessories such as a poker, a pair of leather gauntlets for handling hot logs, and a metal ash bucket and shovel for clearing out. I also needed somewhere tidy to keep kindling and firelighters. It’s worth budgeting for all of this alongside the stove, so you’re not caught short on the first cold night.
• Leave room around the hearth
  Laying a fire and clearing out ash is messy work, and I hadn’t left myself much space to do it. If you can, plan a bit of breathing room around the hearth for kneeling, stacking kindling and setting down the ash bucket. If your stove is in a carpeted room, a fireproof rug in front will catch stray embers and ash.
• A flue thermometer is worth having
  Once I understood how much a cold flue affects the way a stove burns, a flue thermometer became one of my most useful bits of kit. It sits on the flue pipe and shows at a glance whether the stove is burning hot enough. That helps you avoid a smoky, sluggish fire and the build-up of tar that comes with burning too cool.

Shop for handy log burner accessories

If you love the idea of a real flame but don’t have a chimney, or don’t want to deal with logs, ash and annual sweeps, a bioethanol stove might suit you better. Read 5 things I wish I knew before getting a bioethanol stove before you decide.